East Helena BLOCK Party: Because Everyone Fits in @ Your East Helena Library!
September 8, 2014 (Helena, MT)—Your East Helena Library is hosting a BLOCK party and you’re invited! Thanks to a grant from United Way of Lewis and Clark Area, the East Helena Branch of the Lewis & Clark Library is proud to announce an after-school BLOCK program and they will host a party to kick it all off on Thursday, September 18th from 3:30-5PM in the Main Street Park.
Lewis & Clark Library Reference Assistant Bobbi DeMontigny wrote the BLOCK party grant based on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) principles regarding the importance of play in young children and the development of literacy skills. “The program is designed to be an after-school opportunity for Pre-K and elementary aged children to explore the fundamentals of building while having fun and learning,” explained DeMontigny.
On Thursday, September 18th everyone is invited to the Main Street Park in East Helena to celebrate the launch of this after-school program. “We will have ice-cream, pop-corn, and of course BLOCKS to play with,” explains DeMontigny.
Why BLOCKS at the Library? According to the American Library Association’s website, the importance of play is essential in helping kids develop strong reading and math skills; “When you see kids playing with blocks, they are not just having a great time. They are learning about shapes, sizes, colors, fractions, and classification. Children are visually measuring length, width, and height as they build. Playing with bricks and blocks gives children experience comparing area and volume when they try to visualize how they can fit the pieces together.” (http://www.ala.org/alsc/importance_of_play)
Judy Hart, Director of the Lewis & Clark Library System, believes that the grant compliments the work that the Library’s Foundation has been doing to support Early Learning initiatives. “Earlier this year the Foundation purchased 8 AWE computers equipped with Early Learning and STEM programs on them for each of the libraries in our system; this BLOCK grant compliments that effort nicely and helps further the Foundation’s mission to increase early literacy programs at our Library.”
“The United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area is excited to support this educational after-school project in East Helena,” said Brian Johnson, Executive Director of the United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area. “The United Way invests in community impact projects like the East Helena Block Party because we know that education is the cornerstone of success in our communities and we are proud to work with organizations throughout the Tri-County area to make educational opportunities accessible for everyone.”
DeMontigny used the grant to purchase approximately 6,000 LEGO® pieces including wheels, windows, doors, and people; approximately 500 building blocks including standard and architectural pieces; three LEGO® concept and building books; two large drawstring play mats to keep the LEGOs® in and one large hinged latched case on wheels for storage. The LEGO® blocks will be stored at the East Helena Library and used for after-school programs. East Helena Librarian Diane Potter is thrilled to provide this service to her younger patrons, “to see their faces light up as they build all sorts of things is so rewarding, this is a great addition to our children’s programming here at the East Helena Library.”
For more information on this, and other early literacy programs at Your Lewis & Clark Library, log onto www.lclibrary.org or contact Director Judy Hart at 447-1690 ext 117.
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